‘Wouldn’t wear it in the city’: Secretive trade in banned Hezbollah symbols
It might seem like an ordinary phone case — but there’s a reason the deal is quietly being done via direct message on Instagram.
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EXCLUSIVE
As Australian police crack down on public displays of the Hezbollah flag, a furtive online trade in the terrorist group’s symbols takes place in Instagram direct messages.
“I’ll get the plain Hezbollah logo for the iPhone cover please. Keep it simple,” one prospective customer writes.
“Ok hun,” replies the seller, a southwest Sydney woman who makes custom-printed phone cases, necklaces and other Hezbollah-branded merchandise, before sending a preview image of the $35 iPhone 16 version.
“Beautiful! So keen to have it. Do you think I’ll get it [sic] trouble having it in public?” the buyer asks.
“[Now] with that one maybe because it is stands out. But i think it should be fine,” she replies.
In separate messages, a different online seller, also based in southwest Sydney, shows off a large Hezbollah flag necklace and other items.
“They are gorgeous, I can’t wait to have them. One of the sisters told me I should be careful wearing the Hezbollah one around the city … Do you know if there’s an issue with the cops?” the buyer asks.
“I wouldn’t wear the hezb in the city,” she replies. “You can hang it at home somewhere.”
The person who contacted the women, posing as a prospective customer, is a Sydney Jewish man who said he wanted to gather proof that they were knowingly selling terrorist imagery.
He provided the screenshots of the interactions and a statement to NSW Police late last month.
In response to a question from this website as to whether or not the police were pursuing an investigation into the matter, a spokeswoman for NSW Police said officers had conducted inquiries and “no further action” was expected.
“On Friday November 22, 2024, officers attached to St George Police Area Command commenced inquiries after receiving a report of items allegedly containing pictures of a flag being sold online via a social media site,” she said.
“Following extensive inquiries into the report, no further police action is expected … however, anyone with information is urged to come forward and contact local police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.”
Sales of pro-Hezbollah merchandise at fundraising stalls in recent months have skirted a legal grey area, with the actual flag itself rarely seen.
![‘I wouldn’t wear [it] in the city.’ Picture: Instagram](https://content.api.news/v3/images/bin/e930b573c9b604483866dfccc30c43a4?width=650)
“Because I didn’t trust the police to do their job I created a fake identity on Instagram and started following [these] people,” the man told news.com.au.
“I knew that most of it is legal — the T-sign, the signature — so I was looking for clear breaches of the existing law, which means the full display of the Hezbollah logo.”
Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group, is considered a terrorist organisation by the Australian, UK and United States governments. Displaying its symbols in public, including the distinctive green and yellow flag, can be a criminal offence.
The assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli air strike in late September sparked a series of protests at which Hezbollah flags were flown, leading to a crackdown by state and federal police.
Displaying a banned symbol alone is also not enough to constitute an offence. It must also occur in circumstances where a reasonable person would consider it does one of a number of additional things, such as spreading hatred based on race, religion or nationality.
In Victoria, the AFP-led Operation Ardvarna last week charged a 36-year old Melbourne man with allegedly displaying a terrorist group’s symbol in a public place at a September 29 rally. He faces a maximum penalty of 12 months imprisonment.
A 19-year-old Sydney woman was charged in October with the same alleged offence. She has pleaded not guilty.
The AFP said it was investigating 13 people at the Melbourne rally, and had seized several phones and clothing depicting the Hezbollah symbol.
“I know the police are struggling to enforce the law, that it has to be under certain conditions,” the man said.
“[The AFP said during Senate hearings] you have to show mens rea, knowledge what you’re doing is illegal, you have to know it’s a terrorist organisation, you have to show clear intent. So I took it upon myself to prove these [elements] and make it, to put it bluntly, pretty f**king hard for the police not to charge them.”
One of the women has since announced to her followers that she is shutting down her business, writing in an Instagram Story on Wednesday she is not taking any more orders due to “unfortunate circumstances”, with a police car emoji.
“Something has been done, I don’t know what it is,” the man said. “One of the things I’m [worried about] they just told them, ‘Hey, please don’t sell this.’”
His lawyer, criminal barrister Peter Lavac, said there had been “deathly silence” from police about any investigation.
“I made sure that [police were] provided with a victim impact statement,” Mr Lavac said.
“That sets out his rights as a victim to be fully made aware of all stages of the investigation and be appraised of what’s going on.”
Mr Lavac said his attempts to follow up with police since had been ignored.
“Every time I’ve ever done this in the past with police I got a call within one or two days,” he said.
“I haven’t received a single call from anyone. That’s totally abnormal from my experience as a criminal lawyer. I’m the barrister involved in the case, I want to know per the victim’s charter what’s going on. We’re entitled to know what the stage is in the investigation. To not call me back is not only rude and disrespectful, it is unprofessional and it’s negligent. All he has to do is call me back and say we’re working on it. Not even that. That’s where alarm bells start ringing for me.”
Mr Lavac, who has emerged as an outspoken advocate for the Jewish community, is separately representing another man who alleges he was unlawfully arrested and fined for holding an Israeli flag near protesters gathered outside a synagogue in the CBD earlier this month.
The man had been driving back from a Christmas party on December 4 when he saw the protest of about 70 people gathered outside The Great Synagogue on Elizabeth Street. He parked his car and took out his flag.
“I just stood in front of them holding the Israeli flag,” he said.
The man was arrested and taken to Surry Hills Police station, where he was issued a $550 fine for failing to comply with a direction and given an order to stay out of the CBD.
“I said to the officer, ‘I live in that area, I work in that area ... as soon as you let me go I’m going straight back to the synagogue,’” he said.
The man says he has no intention of paying the fine, and may sue NSW Police.
“His arrest was unlawful, he wasn’t doing anything wrong,” Mr Lavac said, drawing comparisons with the arrest of father-of-two Mark Spiro for waving an Israeli flag near protesters at the Sydney Opera House last October.
“The Israeli flag is not illegal. He was going about his normal business. It was the baying mob that was breaking the law, not him. He was deprived of his liberty. They’re punishing this guy not for doing anything wrong but because he’s a Jew.”
Mr Lavac said if the fine went to court he would defend the man pro-bono.
“Even if it doesn’t go to court, I’m going to advise him and help him find lawyers who will sue the state government and NSW Police for unlawful arrest, unlawful deprivation of liberty and racial discrimination,” he said.
“The real perpetrators who were breaking the law, nobody even went near them to tell them to move on. All these people are cheering and clapping every time a Jew is arrested in Australia for doing nothing more sinister than waving an Israeli flag.”
NSW Police declined to comment as the matter was yet to be dealt with before the courts.
Originally published as ‘Wouldn’t wear it in the city’: Secretive trade in banned Hezbollah symbols
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